PARTY BLUES

I had a great time last Monday night as we invited some of the friends and their spouses for a get-together. Although apparently it meant to be a celebration of my birthday and the recent promotion but my intention was to have a gathering of my friends, who are alienated by cruel realties of the busy life. I have not seen these faces for months whereas 10 years ago we used to interact almost everyday. There was so much to gossip and be updated and socializing with the spouses.

S. took the pain by taking a leave an preparing some lovely dishes. Items included were Rogan Josh of Mutton, Butter Chicken, and Kasmiri Pulau. She has downloaded the recipes from internet and could really impress her in laws and the guests as well with the delicacies. I must say that is a commendable achievement when somebody rarely cooks.

My contribution was to help her buy the ingredients, take a leave and baby-sitting while she was preparing the food and arranging the dishes. All for that I got a cake from my seven and a half month old daughter(courtesy: her mom) which I cut with a red-face.

And my daughter got most of the presents as many thought that I am too old to get gifts. And that made me even happier.

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SCRAPINGS

* A tribute to mother on the mother's day.

* I am amazed that a 13 year old girl can write this well!

* More abuse of foreign workers in the middle east.

* Gwynnth's Streets of Bangladesh Photo Album is available now. The tagline "The sights, the sounds, the smells of Bangladesh... The way Gwen sees it..." promises much and the close to 200 pictures will not disappoint you.

* A firsthand account of an Arab woman about the changing treatment of women and elderly in the Grand Mosque in Mecca, where the holy Kaaba is. Some think Wahabbis are responsible.

* A fundraiser for the garments tragedy victims. There are lots of politics going on regarding what should be the compensation amount for the poor workers families. These employees were not insured. And I don’t know what will happened to the injured workers. I think its time that the government makes a law, which will ensure that the workers will be under insurance cover to prepare for the worst.

* 12 ways to become a younger you.

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BEGGING TAKES AWAY ONE'S MORAL

Snapshot 1: An women in ragged cloths with one dirty infant in her arms approaches my car which stopped at a red light in Shahbag. I become so moved by the thing that the baby is of about the age of my daughter. Looking tired from exposure to the hot sun the baby lays its head on the women's shoulder, who gently starts knocking in my window.

I sprung from the sitting position just to pull my wallet to give her something. S. stopped me warning that the light will turn green at any moment. And then she tells me a shocking fact that there are babies for hire which are exploited by beggers like this women who are not actually the mother. She said: "just look at the women, she looks poor but is young and is able to work. But she has probably hired this infant to generate sympathies among the people like you and cash on it. These babies are kept devoid of food the whole day, while these beggars do not forget to nourish their stomach." S. expressed anger over the parents of these babies, who let them exposed in this misery and commented that we should not encourage these criminals by giving alms. As we moved on I argued that maybe these babies are orphans and probably with little help they can survive. But in the end I also echoed with her that there are orphanages and other charitable institutions in the country for people like these and Bangladesh is not in a condition that people are dying without food. Exploiting these babies is a case of tricky begging profession. There are also reports that kids are disfigured so that they can be used in begging. It is part of a powerful racket as beggars have to give a portion of their income to people who secure a place for them beside a road or under a leafy tree. It reminds me of this post from Daniel.

Snapshot 2: Tanya writes a touching article about how she was moved by one one-legged Cycle-Rickshaw puller who was proud to carry on with his dream and marrying off his three daughters with his hard-earned money. When you meet persons like this you see the aura of pride and joy of life. He could be a beggar instead and cash on his physical conditions but he chose to keep his head high.

The reality: I have written in a previous post warning that more and more people are taking begging as a profession. In our country a successful beggar can earn more than a day laborer, because the tradition is to pay something to the beggars. But paying to beggars turns out to be patronizing a profession, rather than helping a needy. In western countries some individual beg by playing some instruments or drawing something. In the subcontinent, beggars cash on their poverty like conditions and virtually earn without any creative work (except if you consider the art of asking for money as creative).

Probably those people are lazy in nature as they are choosing a more less laborious profession as begging than the struggle to keep their pride.

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MORE LINKS

* The puzzle of Bangladesh

* Lt Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora, RIP. Bangladesh remembers.

* More rant about fencing of borders and killing of innocents.

* Virtually yours from Bangladesh.

* The issues with the newly introduced Google web accelarator.

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JOTTINGS OF THE DAY

* "Keetha Oilow" and "Keetha Failam" may sound funny but they are two bright stars of the Sylheti film industry. For non-Bangladeshi readers, the Sylhetis are originated from Sylhet, a district of Bangladesh and they represent the most Bangladeshi migrants to UK starting from early twentieth century.

* The job crisis in curry houses of Britain due to new government immigration rules will disrupt serving of around 2.5 million curries a week to the Brits. The industry currently employs 70,000 people mostly from South Asia.

* Asians disappear on prime-time in the US.

* World Press Photo of the year - 2004 via Extra Extra.

* Some pictures of Bangladesh -beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.

* Global Voices Online provides an almost daily world blog roundup. Don't miss that.

* Beware of fake Viagra pills. via Flying Chair

* Afghanistan's Burka band rocks!

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I'M BACK

Did you miss me? I was on a forced hiatus from blogging to meet a couple of work related deadlines. I usually don't skip deadlines and do whatever it takes to finish the job (my boss said this while awarding me a promotion!). But long working hours makes my life miserable as the family gets ignored and that is why I hate deadlines. I have a couple of more personal deadlines to meet. Write one article for a magazine which is making a debut shortly and there is one guest post offer by Nitin. I believe that the main difference between creative work and commercial work is the term deadline. But sometimes you have to compromise and make it happen at a stipulated time. And sometimes I am just darn lazy regarding doing anything for myself!

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GOOD NEWS FROM BANGLADESH

* Salahuddin Shoaib Chowdhury is finally released on a bail. His affiliation with Inquilab TV (deemed as propaganda machine of right-wing Islami parties) is still an enigma to many (read my previous post).

* The good news is that the number of internet users of Bangladesh has crossed 1 million. But it is still less than 1% of the population.

* Bangladesh's export earnings rose to 12.5% in the first nine months of the current fiscal year July'04 - June'05.

* Thanks to the introduction of rigorous law (death penalty) against the abusers, acid throwing attacks on women have been reduced.

* Bangladesh has been elected a member of the UN Commission on Human Rights for 2006-2008.

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